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Thursday night: Crossed out
posted at 2007-05-25 02:56 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
It's a late night at the end of a long week of late nights, so I'll add more insightful analysis tomorrow. You can catch my story on it during Morning Edition. But in the meantime, here's the rundown:
Winners:
Eminent Domain amendment
A walk at 104-15, despite a delightfully frank floor speech by Robeson Dem Ronnie Sutton. The highlights:
"This is a highly political bill. And some of us want it for purely political reasons. Purely politics, something to run on. The other side, or the other group, or the other whatever you want to call it, don't have the will to stop the other side....
"Some of us gonna be selling our souls on this bill. Oh, we'll stand up here, and we'll talk about this, and we'll talk about that, and we'll talk about the people back home. And for both sides, the issue is, "Am I going to be re-elected?"
In my opinion, Sutton nailed it. You can hear his brief comments in their entirety here.
Sutton apparently convinced two folks to change their votes. Before he spoke, both Anson Dem Prior Gibson and Lenoir Dem Van Braxton had said they *had* to vote for the amendment, even though they didn't like it. In the end, they both voted against it.
Cumberland Dem Rick Glazier
House Republicans spent a full hour yesterday trying to remove phrases like "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" from Glazier's anti-bullying bill. Glazier survived the GOP amendment by a hairsbreadth in a tied vote, 58-58, broken in his favor by Speaker Hackney.
Glazier apparently decided he wasn't going there again today. When Hackney recognized him to introduce his bill on 3rd reading, Glazier adroitly called the question, a motion his party majority carried, thereby saving all of us another hour of rehashing yesterday's arguments. Thanks for that, Rick!
Small dairy farms
No, really. The biggest crossover debate on the Senate side was whether the state should allow the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk by small dairy farmers who hope this niche market might help them make a living.
Sen. and retired MD Bill Purcell was firmly against it, warning that raw milk can contain tuberculosis, listeria, salmonella, e coli, and any number of other nasty bugs folks shouldn't catch. But the bill's sponsor, Senator Kay Hagan, pointed out that the state allows the sale of cigarettes, even though they cause cancer. How much worse could raw milk be?
Mark Binker has more on his blog. Check it out.
Losers:
Student backsides
School spankings will probably remain legal in NC till 2009 after a ban was defeated in the House. Spare the rod, spoil the GOP's day.
Cell phone headset makers
Sen. Charlie Dannelly counted the votes and decided to pull his bill banning hand-held cell phones while driving.
Tough Men
Amateur "Toughman" matches are still legal under a bill approved in the House today, but no one would be able to afford to put them on. The measure requires organizers to take out a cool quarter million in liability insurance. The catch? If you can even find insurance for this sort of event, it's pretty much guaranteed to be cost-prohibitive. Guess bar-fighters will have to go back to the parking lot, just like the good old days.
Lots more entries in both columns, but it's closing time. More tomorrow.
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